


Legal Insanity

by Insert_Creative_Name_Here



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Minor Angst, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, Time Loop, because of the aforementioned time loop, minor characters for like a scene later, the character death isn't permanent, there's a bit of violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-20 13:55:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30005931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insert_Creative_Name_Here/pseuds/Insert_Creative_Name_Here
Summary: It's just like any other day, really.
Relationships: CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives & CT-7567 | Rex
Comments: 18
Kudos: 34





	1. Day 1

**Author's Note:**

> Albert Einstein once said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and hoping for a different result. By that definition, everyone in a time loop is insane, so I thought it was a fitting title. No one's actually insane.

It's just like any other day, really.

Rex wakes up at 0800. He drinks his caf - it's too bitter, as always - he checks his datapad and comm for new messages - there's nothing - he grabs a ration bar from the mess hall - it tastes like sawdust - and he makes his way to the bridge for a briefing.

They're landing on Caedem today to push the Separatists off of the planet. There's no droid factory, no Separatist base, as far as Rex can tell it's more of a Ryloth situation than anything - the Seps invading a planet that really didn't want to be involved in the conflict, and treating the native people like they're holding valuable Republic strategy info.

He hopes that's not the case. He'd barely been involved in Ryloth, but the stories that Ponds and Cody had told him were plenty enough for him to want to hunt down Watt Tambor and shoot him in his stupid kriffing goggles.

General Skywalker and Commander Tano walk into the room, and the briefing begins.

It's relatively small - this is more about making minute, last minute changes as more intel comes in than reworking entire strategies. Besides Skywalker, Tano, and Rex, there's Fives, looking perpetually off balance without Echo, and Rex doesn't think that will ever stop even though it's been months; Jesse, who Rex has been slowly training to fill Echo's empty ARC spot, as much as it pains him; and Kix, newly promoted to CMO and the only person keeping the 501st's command alive.

"New intel suggests that there isn't going to be much of a Separatist presence on Caedem," the General says. "Much less than we were planning on, but I don't think we need to make any major changes to our strategy."

"So what are you suggesting we do?" Rex asks.

"We go down with more than we need. Better safe than sorry, right?"

"Right."

The rest of the briefing is just little things, confirmations on landing sights, reviews of strategy. It's normal, and if Rex was as paranoid as Wolffe he'd say it's almost suspiciously so. But he's not, so he's just grateful for the calm

Preparation for departure goes as usual. The 501st is incredibly efficient when it needs to be, and they don't need all of the 4 hours that they have to prepare.

Rex spends the two hours before he needs to report back to the bridge in the mess hall. He drinks another cup of caf and eats two ration bars. He comms Cody - they haven't talked in a bit, and Rex isn't ashamed to admit that he kind of misses him.

Then the two hours are up, and Rex goes to the bridge to supervise departure. It goes off without a hitch.

He's got a good feeling about this.

* * *

Caedem is a bloodbath.

Rex has never had intel this wrong before. The 501st had packed for medium resistance and planned for light.

This might just be the heaviest resistance he's seen in the whole war.

Something had to have gone wrong with their scouts. Small mistakes are expected, of course, it's not like the Separatists just sit around and wait for them to attack, but there's no logical way for what feels like three droid armies to get here in the time between his scouts' report and their touchdown.

Tano disappeared in a horde of droids twenty minutes ago. As far as Rex can tell, Skywalker is still up and fighting, - every so often, he'll see flashes of lightsaber-blue - but even he seems to be tiring.

Rex is hiding behind a gunship. He's ashamed to admit it, but the ground is covered in bodies - more vod'e than droid, and if he emerged from his hiding place he'd be shot down instantly.

It's just like Teth, his mind whispers at him, uninvited and unwanted.

It isn't like Teth, he thinks. This is worse.

At Teth they'd had no Jedi. At Teth there were seven survivors.

Here they have two Jedi - one, he corrects himself, no, zero, he corrects again when he peeks through the slats in the gunship's doors only to see the General's lightsaber turn off and fall. And as for survivors, well.

Fives is crouched next to him, and Rex swears that he can feel Fives' shock and anger. Now that Skywalker's down, Fives is the only living person Rex has seen in minutes.

"How did this happen?" Fives breathes through their comm. "How was our intel so wrong?"

"I have no idea," Rex says. "My first guess would be sabotage, but,"

"What would we even do about it, if it was," Fives finishes.

"Exactly."

They're quiet for a while. the constant drone of blasterfire fading away as the battle - if they can even call it that - wraps up. Every so often, there's a shot and a shout as the droids come across a rare survivor.

They're getting closer. Rex and Fives don't have much time left.

"You got a plan?" Fives asks.

"Not one that's going to get us out of here alive."

"Wasn't really counting on one. What do you got?"

"We go out shooting. Take out as many droids as we can. Maybe there's a survivor on the edges that could escape in the chaos."

Fives sighs, sets his shoulders with all of the determination of a man who knows he's going to die.

"Well, if there's nothing else we can do-"

An explosion rattles the gunship they're hiding behind. The droids, probably trying to shake survivors out.

"Get down!" Fives says, and Rex goes to press himself against the ground, but there's a sudden, agonizing pain in the back of his skull, and he jerks forward, almost falling into Fives' lap.

"Shit, shit, Rex, no," Fives whispers, sounding absolutely gutted.

Rex wants to respond, wants to reassure Fives that everything is going to be okay - even though he knows it won't be - but as his vision blurs and the sounds of battle get farther and farther away, all he can think is that he'd give anything to do this over again.


	2. Day 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a normal day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mando'a translations in the end notes.

It's a normal day.

Rex's alarm goes off at 0800, and he drags himself to the mess. He drinks his normal bitter caf, reads all of his non-existent messages on his comm, and eats his dry ration bars. He gets to the 0900 briefing at 0855.

Caedem is a small farming planet. There isn't a Separatist base like on Christophsis, and there isn't a droid factory like on Geonosis. It's more of a hostage situation. A Ryloth. The Seps invading some random planet for monetary reasons and pretending it's justified.

It makes him sick, but Rex knows he can't do anything besides clean up the Separatists' messes.

At 0900 exactly, Skywalker and Tano rush onto the bridge. Rex grants them the small mercy of pretending like they aren't just on the cusp of being late.

It's a small briefing. The General and Commander are there, of course, but there's also Jesse, ARC in training; Kix, newly promoted CMO; and Fives, in full armor and thus expressionless, but he's tense in a way that only Rex really knows how to recognize.

They're not on the bridge for long. Most of the briefing is taken up by reviewing the scouts' latest intel - a decreased Separatist presence. It's too late to make major revisions to their plans, not without possibly landing late, so they agree to stick with what they have.

Fives looks like he wants to say something during their planning, but he's silent. It's odd, especially for him.

Rex pulls him aside after the briefing ends.

"Fives, are you okay?" he asks.

"I don't- I don't really know. I had a nightmare, I think. The landing went horribly, horribly wrong, and we all- we all died."

"It was just a nightmare, Fives. We're going to be fine."

"I know. I know. It just felt so _real_. The- the scouting report was the same, and our decision on what to do was the same, and…" Fives trails off, his helmet tilting down.

"And?" Rex asks.

"It was _really_ bad. I lost track of everybody besides you and the Jedi five minutes in. The Commander went down pretty soon after, and for a while it was just you and me hiding behind a gunship and the General fighting through a horde of droids. Eventually he went down too, and you and I were going to rush the droids to give any survivors a chance to escape, but there was an explosion, and- and you had shrapnel in the back of your skull, and you _died_ in my arms, and then it was just _me_. And there was another explosion, and I woke up here."

Fives is breathing frantically, and Rex knows that he's thinking about Echo. The explosions, the desperate battles, the losing close _vod'e_ , it has to be bringing up memories.

Rex pulls Fives into an empty hallway - neither of them really like being emotionally vulnerable around random _vod'e_ , and then tugs him into a loose hug.

"It was just a nightmare," Rex says, keeping his voice steady even though the oddly specific details of Fives' dream rub him the wrong way. "I'm still here. We're all here. It's okay. Caedem is going to be fine."

Fives nods, pulling away. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize, _vod'ika_. You can't control your nightmares."

"I wish I could."

"Don't we all," Rex laughs. "Want to get lunch?"

"Sure," Fives says. He sticks to Rex's side as they leave the hallway.

It's only when Rex really thinks about it that he notices the dull ache in the back of his head.

* * *

Fives was right about Caedem. It's a massacre.

Everything goes exactly as he said it would. The 501st lands to heavy resistance, and they're almost instantly overwhelmed. Rex would've lost track of Fives long ago if he wasn't making an apparent effort to stay as close to Rex as he can.

The Jedi cut down droids like they're nothing, and for a second Rex thinks that they're going to be able to thin the herd a bit.

Then there's an explosion of blasterfire, and the Commander goes down.

Fives swears. "We have to get to a gunship," he says with a tone of such certainty that Rex has to listen to him.

"Why?" he asks as they run.

Lights streak through the sky, and the ground shakes. Missiles.

"Because of _that._ "

Kriff.

"Take cover!" Rex shouts to his troops in his Captain voice. "And stay alive."

His _vod'e_ throw themselves behind piles of rubble, behind husks of dead droids. Fives pulls Rex past all of them. He grabs Kix from where he's crouched behind a droid and throws them behind an overturned gunship just as the explosions start. The world shakes, there's an ear-deafening _boom_ and fire explodes all around them, but the gunship keeps them safe.

The world goes silent.

"Fives, how did you…" Kix whispers.

"I had a dream," Fives says. "I had a- a nightmare, really, but everything's happening exactly as I remember."

Rex peers through the slats on the gunship. "Where's the General?"

"He should be fine. He stopped a few missiles in my dream, but I don't know if-"

"He's fine," Kix says. "He's up and fighting."

Fives is silent.

"You okay?" Rex says. It's a stupid question.

"It was real," Fives whispers. "It had to be real. It was real and I'm doing it again and I couldn't save us."

"We're still here, Fives. We're still alive. You said that in your dream it was just me and you, but Kix is here now. It isn't the same."

"It is."

There's the sound of metal boots from the other side of the gunship. _Droids._

Rex adjusts his grip on his blasters. He's going out shooting.

"It's the same," Fives whispers.

Droids come around the gunship and blasterfire streaks around them. Kix only manages to squeeze off a few shots before he falls. Rex presses himself against the gunship and holds the trigger of his blaster down. A pain blossoms in his left shoulder, then his stomach, then his upper torso.

"It's the same."

Rex jerks back as a blaster bolt strikes his helmet. His vision blurs.

"It's the same."

The world goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on tumblr at elipson. Come say hi!
> 
> Mando'a Translation:  
> vod'e - siblings  
> vod'ika - little sibing
> 
> yall I've literally been waiting the entire week to post this. I hope you enjoyed!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr at elipson. Come say hi!
> 
> This has been in the works for a bit and I'm really excited to get it out here. I hope you guys enjoy!


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